Anya Powers
Biography Early Life Anya was born to Milo and Qwella Powers, a meek, mild textile factory worker and a fierce rebellion fighter, respectively. However, Anya's mother had decided to settle down after the Capitol took hold of the districts once again, so as to preserve herself and her husband from being shot or punished at the hands of the Peacekeepers. Eventually, they decided to start a family, and thus Anya was born. Anya was a particularly troublesome toddler, always loud and running around the house, trailing string from her father's sewing kit around and getting all of the furniture tied in a horrible mess. Once she reached school age, her parents sent her off with the other kids to learn, and Anya regretted that day ever since. She never enjoyed learning, especially not by listening to some teacher babble on all day. As a result, assignments were never done and her parents had frequent "talks" with the teachers about her rebellious behaviour. Qwella would always scold her daughter after such "talks," but less harshly than usual; her mother also believed that what children learned in school was unnecessary compared to what could be learnt outside. Eventually, when Anya was 13, there came the year of the 20th annual Hunger Games, causing an angry stir across District 8. The citizens had been half-hoping, half-expecting the Capitol to stop this cruel punishment after 20 years, and they still showed no signs of stopping. Enraged by this, a few of the old rebellion fighters, including Anya's mother, tried to organise another rebellion by mobbing the townsquare. However, they forgot that part of the reason they'd held their own for a short while before against the Peacekeepers was not just because of their fighting spirits; it was because they had weapons and were a threat. Whereas the only tools they could amass that day were sewing scissors and needles, as well as small, mostly dull kitchen knives. Needless to say, the small act of rebellion ended quickly with the Peacekeepers just deciding to open fire into the crowd. There were no survivors. The district was in lockdown for nearly a week, during which time anyone exitting their houses was also shot. Not many people attempted this though; they'd all heard the shots before. Anya, however, wanted to go outside and see what was happening, but her father, in an uncharacteristically firm way, had ordered her to stay in the house. Not expecting this sudden burst of authority from her dad, Anya obeyed and the two of them sat and waited, either for the district to resume it's usual business or for the Peacekeepers to come and get them. They knew that the law enforcers wouldn't hesitate to involve the friends and family of those who participated in the rebellion, and they also knew that Qwella had been in the square, though neither wanted to think about what might have happened to her. Eventually, the district did get back to normal, with no more casualties; the Victory Tour had been approaching and the Peacekeepers needed to clean things up for when the press arrived, so there was no time to bother identifying the bodies and going after their families. Instead, the bodies of the dead were dumped unceremoniously by the graveyard, where a few residents, including Anya's father, cautiously made their way over to in order to identify who had been killed, though most of them could hazard a guess. And sure enough, there was the lifeless body of Qwella Powers, as had been expected. Anya was convinced that she hadn't been affected by her mother's death, telling herself that she didn't care; which, in some ways, she didn't. In personality, as well as in appearance, Qwella and Anya were quite similar, which led to their butting heads and getting by "on an uncomfortable road of indifference/irritation." However, her mother was also brash and bold, quite different from the other citizens of Eight, and her temper and overall attitude towards life did inspire Anya to try and stray from the normal path as well (though she'd never admit it). The one thing that was obvious she missed was the action her mother brought to Anya's everyday life, from fighting and arguing with those who insulted her to recounting tales of the war to her daughter. Without these things to help Anya's life differ from that of a normal District 8 citizen, she just couldn't take it, and told her father she was leaving before walking out. For a few days she wandered around on the streets, eating whatever she could find and dying her hair when she came across some black dye that had been thrown out near one of the textile factories. Soon, though, she started trying to find ways to get money from others by begging, until she happened to ask a fellow homeless person for money. Shaking his head and her lack of experience and tact, he decided to take her into the little homeless group that also consisted of Gerier and Losan. Other members came and went, but the four of them always were present, until the man who first invited Anya to the group decided to try and slip the Peacekeepers a few drinks after they'd done one of their little "Let's-Pick-On-The-Homeless-People" rounds. He was caught, and ended up being killed for "attempting to harm the brave law enforcers of Panem." Anya was devestated by the loss, though she tried not to show it; however, Gerier and Losan picked up on it and invited her to "drink away the pain." And there was born Anya's long relationship with drinking. ''Before the Games'' The citizens of Eight was fully aware of the small band of homeless people who haunted the alleys of the district; most of them had been asked for money or food by said people at least three times. They weren't hated, but were definitely considered to be a lazy bunch of good-for-nothings by some and nuisances by most. Still, in normal circumstances, the idea of killing off the problem wouldn't cross people's minds. However, the Quarter Quell wasn't exactly "normal circumstances." Anya's name was somewhat known in the district, due to her mother's small amount of fame during the first and attempted second rebellion, as well as the fact that she'd shout it out to whoever wanted to know if she was drunk enough. Unbeknownst to her, some of the district citizens had been watching her closely, as with all the other children of various participants in the rebellion, hoping something might come of them and they could help to forge the way to freedom from the Capitol and the Hunger Games. However, after watching Anya deteriorate into an alcoholic for three years, most people gave up on her and began dismissing her as nothing more than another annoying homeless begger, something Anya was actually striving for in order to emphasise the difference between herself and her mother. Unfortunately, she didn't forsee the consequences; no one believed she was necessary to the district (in fact, she just seemed to live off of the money that generous citizens gave, too lazy and addicted to drinking to get a job), so they started getting it in their heads that maybe, just maybe, they'd vote her in. Everyone still felt bad about it - after all, they were essentially killing ''someone - but no one regretted the choice. To them is was just an terribly effective, incredibly harsh way of cleaning up the streets. ''In the Capitol: Anya is mentioned once in Chapter 16 by an creepy dream version of Edrick Quillheart's best friend Aly as someone that Edrick should kill in the Games. The chariot costumes of her and her district partner Damian are referred to in chapter 17 as being "saddening." And she has an encounter with Sade of District 2 during the second Career training day; it wasn't anything personal, Anya was just, well, drunk. The argument most likely would have escalated to a fight (which Anya would certainly have lost), had it not been for the intervention of Canicus Macaulay from One and Eric Fiske from Eleven. Personality 18 year-old Anya Powers sometimes seems to have two different personalities: when she's drunk, and when she's really drunk. And when she's sober, but that really never happens. Whatever state she's in though, she's always guarenteed to be sarcastic and care-free. Anya never worries too much about the consequences of her actions, a trait that was enhanced when she started drinking; she and fellow homeless/drinking companion Losan don't exactly "know when to stop" when it comes to alcohol, so when they drink they try not to think about the major hangover they know they'll get tomorrow. Anya does have a slightly more serious side of her though. She can be stubborn and, though she often denies it, she can have quite a sense of pride as well. Whenever mentions of her mother, Qwella Powers, are made, she immediately tenses, becomes much more snarky and tries to steer the conversation away from said topic. She hates it whenever people try to compare them both due to Anya's high value in originality; part of the reason she decided to make it on the streets was for fear that if she didn't do something different, she'd be exactly the same as every other citizen in the district. But the only thing she hates worse than people comparing her to her mother is people making comments about how much she should ''be like her mother, a brave fighter in the Dark Days rebellion. Again, this is somewhat due to Anya's small obsession with uniqueness, but deep down she also knows that her mother ''was a great soldier as people say, and part of her does wish she could be the same way, yet she's afraid to try for fear that she might just crash and burn. Anya decided that people can't blame or judge her for something she never tried to achieve, so she attempts to stay as far away from the life her mother lived as possible. Appearance Since Anya has been living on the streets for the better part of five years, her appearance has suffered for it. When she was younger, she used to have blonde hair, though upon running away she found some black dye and decided to use it to colour her hair, in order to disguise herself and "because it looked cool." The matt of hair is usually greasy, always dirty and extremely knotty, as well as having each strand be a different size due to Anya cutting it herself whenever she thinks it's getting too long and the fact that her coordination is usually off when said haircut day arrives. Her eyes, like her mother's, are a startling grey that Anya often tries to focus into an intense glare the same way her mother used to. Though due to lack of focus, this doesn't ever really work. And earning all of her food through begging or scavenging, Anya is scrawny and has an unhealthy look and smell to her, which is also partly due to her drinking. Trivia *The names of Anya, her family members and the homeless gang were all made up on the spot, though the author remembered rigth after that her grandmother's name was Anya. Absolutely no connection was meant to be made. At all. Really wasn't supposed to be *When thinking about Anya's best weapon, the only thing that came to mind was a beer bottle. If that actually happens in the arena, this would be the author's second tribute to use a bottle as a weapon (the first being Ari Locus with his water bottle) *The inspiration for Anya, oddly enough, came partly from James Kirk in the new Star Trek movie and even a little bit from Col. O'Neill in the show Stargate SG1. Then the author decided to turn the character into an eighteen year-old girl and make her drunk and homeless. The style and "voice" of Anya's chapters was also somewhat inspired by those of Bartimaeus in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, except without the footnotes *I think I went waaaay too overboard on the backstory Category:Tributes Category:District 8 Category:Characters Category:Bring Them To Their Knees